Why I Bought My Franchise: Tracee Wood & Kerri Jurimae, Amazing Lash Studio®

Tracee Wood and Kerri Juriamae have been friends for eight years. After a career in medical sales, they’re getting ready to open their first Amazing Lash Studio® together.

But what was it that turned the pair on to the leading lash brand in the first place? After growing frustrated with the internal policies in their current jobs in diagnostics testing, Wood and Juriamae knew they wanted to go into business for themselves. The two were both passionate about their own lash looks so the decision to franchise with Amazing Lash seemed like a no-brainer.

1851 caught up with Wood and Juriamae to learn more of the details on what made them so excited to sign with Amazing Lash Studio®.
 

1851 Franchise: Tell us a bit about your background.

Tracee Wood: The two of us met eight years ago, and we both have similar professional backgrounds. We both come from the medical sales industry, and we were collaborating on some projects together. I have been in sales my entire career, but I grew frustrated with our policies internally. Even so, that experience provided both some great benefits to us and informed our decision to branch out and become entrepreneurs. 

Lashes are what brought us together initially. Kerri has been doing extensions for years, and every time we talked her eyes kept blinking in front of me. I was sold. When this opportunity landed in front of us, it seemed like a great fit. Lashes bonded us in the beginning and now we’ve come full circle as lash extension studio owners.

Kerri Jurimae: We were both in diagnostics testing when we were in the medical sales industry. We’ve been talking about getting into entrepreneurship for quite some time. We were paired with a franchise mentor, and they helped us make sense of where we wanted to go with our future.

1851: How did you get interested in franchising?

Wood: We looked at a few different opportunities. We thought franchising would be a safer way for us to go because corporations are there to help you along the way and let you know how to get something started. The Amazing Lash opportunity came to us for a reason. 

1851: Why was this brand a better fit than other brands in the segment?

Jurimae: We looked at many different types of brands; health and homecare, a pet care mobile, interior design, custom closets ... you name it. Oh my goodness, the opportunities were endless.

We didn’t consider any other beauty or lash brands. What Amazing Lash stands for and the way their studios are set up is standout in comparison to the competition. The layout of the studios and the services they offer are second to none. It made sense to go with the best in the industry. 

Wood: Since we get our lashes done regularly, it’s easy to envision ourselves in the guest experience. A lot of competitors don’t have private rooms, and cleanliness doesn’t seem to be as prioritized. I think that’s something important to have a connection to. If as a guest, cleanliness is important to me, I see it being important to our guests as well. 

1851: Walk us through your journey as a franchisee candidate with the brand. What happened between your first inquiry and opening your first location?

Wood: Initially we worked with a mentor, and spoke with everyone and narrowed it down from there. We were most drawn to Amazing Lash from the beginning. We spoke with Lauren Wanamaker and had several phone convos with her and asked a ton of questions. We also spoke with other franchisees. 

Jurimae: Meeting with local franchisees in the area and seeing how the studios operate and seeing how they’re day-to-day operations go got me excited. 

1851: Did you do a discovery day? How did that go?

Wood: We went out to Denver and spent a day meeting some staff. We were a good fit for the brand and they were a good fit for us. Since then, we’ve had really great support. This is our first business venture, so that’s been really helpful from an operational standpoint — we were clueless. Now we feel like we have all the tools we need to be successful. 

1851: What advice would you give to a franchisor who is hoping to get more franchisees to sign on?

Kerri: Franchising is the best way to go. So much support from franchisees and other studio owners. I think this is really the reason why there's such a large network of support around us. 

More visibility. We didn't know about Amazing Lash until we spoke with our mentor. Might just be where we’re located, but more advertising on different franchise platforms. Being eyelash enthusiasts, it was surprising that we haven’t heard about it before.